Utopian community where love and property are free is harassed by Yunnan authorities

A utopian community has become the target of harassment by local authorities in China’s remote southwest after years of living secluded from the outside world.

For 12 hours every day, village authorities in Lincang in western Yunnan province blast orders to disperse to the New Oasis for Life community of 63 people, accusing them of violating laws on marriage, forestation and child care.

Last month, the group was cut off from electricity and water. Members say they have been questioned if they attempt to venture outside their tiny settlement and roadblocks have prevented outsiders from visiting them.

The group of some 130 like-minded utopians currently living in two settlements in Yunnan faces harassment as groups without state sponsorship have long been viewed with suspicion in China.

“Even though the Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of religion, it tightly restricts spiritual practices to only five officially recognised religious organizations,” said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. “The government considers any other spiritual group as unlawful and subjects them to raids, closures and detentions.”

Yet, members of the group insist they are not members of a religious cult. New Oasis’ teachings, prescribed in the 800 Values for New Era Human Being written by founder Xue Feng, aim to transcend the teachings of Plato, Confucius and Marx to achieve a global community without class or property, members say.